The Elephant in the Room
by pindergast
Summary: I suppose there really isn't a way I can go about saying this without elaboration, or ease around the undeniable truth. Unusual things have happened here at Baker Street, but never has there been anything stranger than the day we walked in to 221B and found an elephant in the room. (Inspired by the reference in 'The Sign of Three').
1. 24-3-13

**Told through John's blog, this short takes place about six months before the Fall. 'The Sign of Three' references this case briefly during Sherlock's best man speech. This one will only last a few chapters, meant to be short, concise, light-hearted, and a bit quirky. Enjoy!:)**

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_24/3/13_

**The Elephant in the Room**

I suppose there really isn't a way I can go about saying this without elaboration, or ease around the undeniable truth. Unusual things have happened here at Baker Street, but never has there been anything stranger than the day we walked in to 221B and found an elephant in the room.

It started when Sherlock and I returned home from a trip to the morgue and found Mrs. Hudson waiting on the front steps. He seemed in shock, but she couldn't wipe this eager smile off of her face. She told us that we had a client waiting upstairs. When asked why she let them in, she simply replied, "You'll see," and proceeded to laugh her way back to her room.

We opened the door to the flat, expecting a client to be seated in front of us. Instead, we only stood in the doorway, our eyes fixed on the enormous animal standing in the middle of the room. There were several moments of silence (once interrupted by a loud trumpet, courtesy of the elephant), and to be honest, neither of us knew what to do. An elephant was standing in the room. It was a baby elephant, judging from its size, but it was still an elephant.

It took us a while to ease into the room and examine the rest of the room, looking for an actual human. We found a man in the kitchen, sipping some tea and holding a half-eaten biscuit.

He introduced himself as Kyle, the elephant's keeper. He worked at the London Zoo, and was one of three handlers for Hathi (the elephant was named after the Rudyard Kipling's character).

Sherlock, to put it simply, lost his temper (well, he didn't actually speak. He sort of turned red and was breathing heavily). Even though Hathi was still small, he had already knocked over one of the side tables and his skull. He demanded that Kyle leave, but I was more interested in how he had gotten a baby elephant up the stairs and into the flat. When I asked him, he didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked. He only said, "It was quite the escapade."

After some negotiation, Sherlock reluctantly agreed to hear what Kyle had to say. I half-listened, too preoccupied by the elephant. In the room. There was an elephant. In the room. Hathi stretch his trunk towards me allowed me to pet him.

It turned out that Hathi was our client. At that point Sherlock stood and began to escort them out. Kyle was begging Sherlock to hear him out, and eventually, I convinced him to just listen.

The night before, there was a murder at the zoo Kyle worked at (this caught Sherlock's attention). One of Hathi's handlers had his head smashed in as he was feeding him. Based on the state of the body, it looked as though something had stepped on him. When the body was discovered, people just assumed that Hathi was the killer (Sherlock rolled his eyes). Because of this, the police weren't called in until it was 'officially' declared as a murder. Kyle, who was concerned for Hathi's life, helped him escape the zoo before the police arrived. Having no where to go, he came to Baker Street. He had heard about Sherlock on TV, and decided that this was the best place he could go. He was afraid that someone would accuse Hathi, and maybe even hurt him. He had to bring him somewhere safe.

Sherlock was listening with 'dubious' written across his face. Frankly, I didn't believe him at first either. Escaping a zoo with a baby elephant? It sounded ridiculous. Then again, he did get him through the front door...and up the stairs...and into the flat.

There was a long silence. Hathi wandered behind Sherlock and wrapped his trunk over his shoulder. He tried to shoo him away, but Hathi kept ruffling his hair and poking his face. Eventually, Sherlock stood and turned to face Hathi. "I'll take the case," he said and held out his hand. Hathi held out his trunk, which Sherlock shook.

I watched the entire scene with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. Sherlock must have really wanted to take the case if he was willing to vindicate an elephant.

Kyle was incredibly grateful, and wouldn't stop shaking Sherlock's hand. Annoyed, Sherlock broke away from his grip and pulled me into the kitchen. We both knew that we couldn't keep an elephant in the flat. He called someone on his cell phone asked for some help, but he didn't mention the elephant. Apparently, he had called Mycroft. We were taking Hathi to the Diogenes Club.

We informed Kyle of our plan, which he agreed to. If anything, I was anxious to see how we were going to get him downstairs.

After careful maneuvering, squeezing through doors, and stumbling backwards, we were able to get Hathi out the front door and onto the street. Luckily, the street was empty, so no one would see the legendary Sherlock Holmes pushing a baby elephant out the door.

We took the inconspicuous route, going down alleys and behind buildings. I don't think anyone saw us, but if you happened to see an elephant on the street last Wednesday, you have a great story to tell.

When we finally arrived at the Diogenes Club, we decided to bring Hathi through the back entrance (the members wouldn't have appreciated an elephant disturbing them). There was a large storage room in the back, a comfortable size for Hathi. Kyle and I waited with him while Sherlock looked for Mycroft. When he returned with his brother, Mr. Holmes reacted the same way as he had when we walked into the flat. He silently studied the animal, looking between Sherlock, Hathi, and myself. I've never seen a speechless Mycroft, nor have I ever seen such a bewildered, perplexed, and at the same time, poised expression on any man's face.

Sorry. Have to go on a milk run. Sherlock's gonna have a complex. I'll post the rest of it next time.


	2. 25-3-13

_25/3/13_

**The Elephant in the Room**

As Sherlock examines his cultured bacteria in the milk I got yesterday, I'll tell you the rest.

After we settled Hathi in with Mycroft, Sherlock texted Lestrade, telling him (not asking) that we were on our way to the crime scene. He didn't seem to thrilled, but since Sherlock didn't tell him about Hathi, he allowed us to come.

On the way, Sherlock was ranting about how ridiculous this was, how Kyle was possibly schizophrenic, and blamed the elephant for almost, and I quote, "breaking my skull". This got us suspicious looks from the cabbie through the rear view mirror.

When we arrived, there were only a few police cars parked outside the front gates. The zoo had been closed down, so we were the only ones here. We found Lestrade at the elephants' habitat, but there was an understandable lack of elephants.

Lestrade reviewed the case for us. The victim, Lloyd Myers, was found with his head smashed in by another handler, Kyle Wilkins (we remained placid). He called the police when he found the body, but when they arrived, both Kyle and the suspect (Hathi) were gone.

Lestrade was obviously convinced that the elephant stepped on the victim, but he didn't say anything about it. He pointed out only one set of footprints in the dirt (confirmed to fit the victim's shoe size and style), as well as a record taken from security. He told us that in order to access the habitat, you had to scan your identification at the door. The victim was the only one to do this during the time of the murder.

Sherlock asked him about security tapes, but conveniently, they were missing. Lestrade recognized that this was unusual, but it didn't seem to bother him or Sherlock. Once again, I was left in the dark.

There were two other people in the zoo at the time, both employees. One of them heard a loud trumpet coming from the exhibit at the time of the murder, claiming that it sounded 'distressed'. Lestrade assumed that there was a sort of row between the victim and the elephant, resulting in the former's death.

Sherlock went to examine the scene as Lestrade gathered his team and prepared to leave. I stood behind him, waiting.

I saw him shooing something from his face, but he dismissed it as only a wasp.

He found a piece of rope buried in the dirt (when asked how he found it buried, he scoffed, unimpressed) and a small knife in the bushes. The police didn't investigate the scene well enough, since it was deemed an accident, but I had to admit, if it took Sherlock several minutes for Sherlock to find it, then it must have been well concealed.

Without the resources to dust for fingerprints, we left the exhibit and proceeded to find the employee who heard the noise and the third handler, who claimed that he wasn't there at the time. Sherlock asked trivial questions, that (he told me later) were to casually distract them. He took note of the boots they were each wearing-identical.

He pulled out the small knife we had found and showed it to them, asking if they carried his around with them. Both of them said no.

When we were done, we took an unexpected turn to the vending machine, where Sherlock got a bag of sweets. Surprised, I asked him why he would want to eat those. He didn't reply until we returned to the elephant habitat. "I'm confirming a theory."

He opened the bag and took a handful of the candies. Instead of stuffing his mouth, he threw them to the side of the habitat, near the bushes, then grabbed my arm and dragged us away from the area.

Within seconds, we saw black and yellow dots swarming around the sweets Sherlock had thrown. He said that wasps were attracted to sugar, and since he didn't want to get too close, he observed them from afar.

Apparently, he knew quite a bit about bees and wasps (in fact, he said that he once dreamed of being an apiarist). He also knew that elephants were inherently afraid of bees and wasps (not mice, I learned). Therefore, he said, Hathi did not cry out because he was agitated by the handler, but because there was a wasp nest not ten feet from his home.

Then that meant, I said, that something must have excited the wasps as well. Sherlock agreed. He took a picture of the crime scene with his phone and sent it to Mycroft, telling him to show it to Kyle. The message was followed by the question, "Is there anything missing?"

After a few moments, there was a response. "Hathi's toy. A big log used to hang from the tree that he would play with. The rope is missing, too."

Sherlock smiled. "This is too easy," he commented.

We asked Kyle to describe the rope and the log, and it matched the rope Sherlock had found buried in the dirt.

Sherlock then mentioned that the zoo issues the same type of boots to all of the keepers, which he noticed when he talked to the other two. There were two possibilities, he said. Either the victim was alone with Hathi, cut the rope, disposed of the log, buried the rope, and threw away his knife, resulting in a raging elephant, or there was a third party.

Since the shoes are identical, this third party could have been wearing them as well, and could have the same shoe size as the victim. If the placement was correct, it could appear that there was only one set of footprints when there were actually two.

Dammit. I think Sherlock spilled acid on the floor. I'll have to finish this tomorrow.


	3. 26-3-13

_26/3/13_

**The Elephant in the Room**

Anyway, after we had gathered enough evidence to support Hathi's innocence, we presented it to Scotland Yard. Lestrade was growing more and more certain that Hathi wasn't the killer, but he needed more concrete proof. A confession.

They called in the two other handlers who were at the zoo at the time. After interrogating them, we were still unsure of which one it was. Plus, Lestrade was suspicious as to why Hathi wasn't at the zoo, and why Kyle was nowhere to be found.

In the end, we had to confess that Hathi was our client. I thought I'd already seen Lestrade's most irritably perplexed expression, but I guess I was wrong. He accused us of being mentally unstable, which Sherlock gladly agreed to. We informed Mycroft and Kyle that we were getting closer.

After some negotiation, we convinced Kyle to let Hathi return to the zoo. There, we brought the two suspects and waited for them to arrive.

Lestrade lectured us on how ridiculous this all was. Everyone seemed to think this except for Sherlock.

When Hathi returned, Kyle told the two suspects to stand in front of the elephant. I didn't know what he planned on doing, and apparently, neither did Sherlock nor Lestrade.

After a few seconds, Hathi raised his trunk to the first handler and trumpeted in his face.

I knew that elephants were intelligent, but I had no idea that could identify faces. I later found that they can even recognized other elephants. Not only was Hathi the suspect, but he was also the only witness to the crime.

The first handler, Oliver Adams, was brought back to Scotland Yard for a more thorough interrogation. Eventually, he confessed.

Adams was one of three handlers in charge of Hathi, along with Kyle and the victim. For years, he had been stealing donated money from areas around the zoo. Up until the murder, he had stolen at least £4500. At some point, the Myers, the victim, saw him in the act, but waited to confront him. On that night, they were cleaning up, and Myers told him what he knew. In a fit of rage, Adams drew his pocket knife, used for primarily for utilitarian purposes. He claimed that he never intended to hurt Myers, but as he swung his arms to gesture, he cut the rope on the tree that suspended the log. It crashed down on Myers head before he could get out of the way.

Panicked, he left his knife in the bushes and disposed of the log. He said that he took it with him on his way home and threw it in the Thames.

Kyle was ecstatic.

In the end, Hathi was permitted back into the zoo, and with Mycroft's help, Kyle wasn't fired. Hathi was recognized by the zoo and the media for his efforts in identifying a criminal. He was given a new log by an anonymous donor, and I have a feeling it was Mycroft. Despite anything he says, I think he enjoyed his time with Hathi.

After everything had settled down, Sherlock and I returned to the zoo to visit Kyle and Hathi. When he saw us, the elephant charged towards us, trumpeting. Kyle saw this and allowed us to see him. He led us behind the exhibit and into the habitat. Hathi greeted us with another trumpet and shuffled towards us.

The first thing he did was ruffle Sherlock's hair, like he had the first day at Baker Street. Sherlock tried to shoo him away, but he pulled Sherlock in with his trunk, his own version of an embrace. Sherlock stiffened at first, but he relaxed, and patted Hathi's trunk.

When Hathi was done with him, he did the same to me. I guess elephants never forget a face.

Mycroft would sometimes tease Sherlock about the case. Sherlock was never really phased. Each time, he would simply reply, "It was for the elephant."

I really do think Sherlock enjoyed himself. And honestly, so did I. Walking a baby elephant through the streets of London, clearing him of charges, watching his reaction to us, his appreciation for what we did-I don't think we'll ever forget the day we found the elephant in the room.


End file.
